Spring Break
Free Credit
Emily MurrayIssue date: 7/31/08 Section: News
|
Sign up for this credit card or this offer and you receive a free gift.
What many don't realize is there is more to the deal than just a free t-shirt or sub sandwich.
Credit card solicitation on campuses may be the beginning of the end for some, heartache for others or the start to building a stellar credit score for a select few of the financially minded and self restrained.
However the ending turns out for those who sign up at sidewalk campus vendors, it's the beginning that Arizona Representative Ed Ableser seeks to change.
Earlier this year, he sponsored a bill that would have prevented credit card vendors from giving away free incentive sign up gifts on campuses, but it failed in the Senate's Higher Education Committee in February.
But the bill's failure has not altered Ableser's determination or passion for the cause.
"There is definitely a lot of persuasion going on. And the techniques which credit card marketers solicit the applications for students is working, that's where they are making most of their money," Ableser says.
According to a Harvard University study, an average freshman in his or her first month of school gets eight opportunities a day to sign up for a credit card. It's this constant solicitation of students that Ableser hopes to change in the coming years.
Janae Riggers,19, from Scottsdale Community College signed up for her first credit card this year with an introductory limit of $500. After purchasing a plane ticket and various other things she has now exceeded the limit within just a few months of signing up. "It sucks trying to pay it off," she says, "I thought I would pay it off sooner."
Rob Breuer, 23, from ASU said, "Right now I've got three; I do have debt from it accumulating a lot but I pay more than is due monthly to pay it off quickly."
Breuer is not alone. According to Ableser, the average college student graduates with three credit cards. "We are sending out students that are over their heads in debt and really don't have any end in sight to get out of that," he says. "It is a problem, we want to make sure our students are protected with safety, we want to make sure students are protected academically and safe with drugs and alcohol and student sexual practices but we don't help them at all financially."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
GHarri
posted 8/06/08 @ 9:17 AM MST
No one should graduate (or leave) with three maxed-out credit cards. That's a surefire disaster. But, getting and managing credit during college can also be part of the experience, if you handle it well. (Continued…)
Post a Comment